1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns a diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of breast, endometrium, cervical, ovarian, squamous cell, prostate and melanoma cancer. Particularly, the invention concerns the use of Id-1 and/or Id-2 genes or Id-1 and/or Id-2 products as diagnostic markers for cancer cells metastatic aggressivity and use of detection of the Id-1 or Id-2 genes, or a ratio thereof, or use of detection of the Id-1 or Id-2 products, or a ratio thereof, for diagnosis and prognosis of breast cancer. The invention further concerns a method for treatment of breast cancer by targeting Id-1 or Id-2 genes, or a combination thereof, through delivery of antisense transcripts, ribozymes, small therapeutically active molecules, drugs, peptides or organic compounds that disrupt Id-1 protein interaction with bHLH transcription factor or enhance Id-2 action with bHLH transcription factor and vice versa, RNA, anti-Id-1 RNAi causing degradation of homologous Id-1 mRNAs, Id-2 as a gene or a protein, or ITF-2 as a gene or protein, or targeting Id-1 or Id-2 proteins with antibodies or with compounds which either enhance or impair their expression thereby affecting the feedback of the gene expression. The invention further concerns the detection of Id-1 or Id-2 products or genes or their ratio with a kit comprising anti Id-1 and/or Id-2 antibodies or Id-1 or Id-2 probes.
2. Description of Related Art
Breast cancer is one of the most common malignancies among women and shares, together with lung carcinoma, the highest fatality rate of all cancers affecting females.
There are very few diagnostic markers available for breast cancer detection and those which are available have a predictive accuracy only about twenty percent. There is no marker available that can detect or determine cancer cells metastatic aggressivity.
The current treatment of the breast cancer is limited to a very invasive, total or partial mastectomy, radiation therapy, or chemotherapy, later two resulting in serious undesirable side effects.
It would thus be desirable to have available additional new diagnostic methods which would detect the presence of cancer with greater accuracy and which would permit determination of distinction of highly aggressive breast cancer cells having a tendency to metastasize from the cancer cells which remain localized and have low probability of metastatic spread. It would also be desirable to have available methods for less invasive treatment of the breast or other cancers.
The mammary gland is one of the few organs that undergo striking morphological and functional changes during adult life, particularly during pregnancy, lactation, and involution.
When normal epithelial breast cells become transformed, a number of genetic alterations occur which lead to tumorigenesis and metastasis. These alterations affect growth control, maintenance of differentiated epithelial functions and invasiveness. Identifying the genes involved in these processes is essential for understanding how breast cancer develops, and for deriving better methods for prognosis and treatment.
In both humans and mice, fetal virgin adult, and pregnant mammary glands undergo extensive temporal, structural and spatial remodeling, which entails invasion, migration, and relocation of cells to generate the ductal and alveolar structures of the gland. Once lactation is terminated, there is additional and extensive tissue remodeling as the gland returns to its resting state.
During each menstrual cycle, and especially during pregnancy, lactation and involution, mammary epithelial cells go through cycles of proliferation, invasion, differentiation and apoptotic cell-death. The mechanisms that regulate these complex and developmentally coordinated cell phenotypes are only poorly understood. However, at least some of the downstream genes that are regulated during these different stages of mammary development have been identified.
In recent years, some progress has been also made in elucidating the mechanisms that regulate mammary gland-specific gene expression and the transformation of mammary epithelial cells to malignancy. However, the practical use of these findings for detection, prognosis and treatment of cancer and its malignant propensities has not been described.
It is, therefore, a primary objective of this invention to provide a method and means for detection and prognosis of breast cancer, for determination of the malignant aggressivity of cancer cells and for providing therapeutically effective agents for suppression and therapy of breast, endometrium, cervical, ovarian, squamous cells and prostate cancer and melanoma.
All patents, patent applications and publications cited herein are hereby incorporated by reference.